Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-09-04

introducing into Greece the olive tree
which he brought from the Mounts
Girapetra, in Creta.
Pindar says that all the slopes OF
Mount Olympus were soon covered
with it, and that the Athenians used to
crown with its branches the victors in
the Olympic games.
From Greece it was introduced into
Italy. There, says Virgil Book IL,
Georgics), "the sterile lands and stony
hills delight to be covered with the
hardy and perennial olive tree"
Martial also says: Hereafter the
proud oak may be jeolous of the olive
tree of the Mount Alban"
When the Phoceans founded Mar
seilles, about 900 hundred years before
the Chaistian era, they introduced
the olive tree in Provence, where they
planted it only on steep and stony
places.
In passing over long period, our
ing which the praises of the olive tree
have been sung IN many tongues, we
come to that great agriculturist, Par
mentier, who, during the last century,
was instrumental in the introduction
of the potatoe into France. He says !:
"Of all the trees that the industry of
men has made profitable, the olive
tree deserves, without contradiction,
the very first place"
1t is thus on the Mount Ararat, on
the mountain mentioned by Nehe-
miah, on the summit of the Aero
polls, on Mount Olympus, on the
Girapetra Mountains, on the steep de-
clivities of the Holy Mount, on Mount
Alban, on the rough and stony spots
selected by the Phoceans, on the
sterile and rocky places recommended
by Virgil that the olive tree has found
the kind of soil most propitious to its
robust constitution.
Has the tree or the nature of the
soil changed since SO that we may
wisely disregard the testimony of the
ancients? Is there anything to en-.
courage us now to plant the olive tree
on richer or a different soil from that
of its historic and traditional growth :
In the works of the most reputed
modern writer's we find full and salts
factory assurance that the kind of soil
cited by the ancients is the most ia.
vorable to the growth and profitable
culture of the olive tree. l will here
give a few citations:
Riondei, p. 2. The olive tree re.
quires warm but temperate climate
1t breads equally extreme cold and
excessive heat. In the north of Eu.
rope it's progress is checked by cold
weather; in the south and in Africa il
is stopped by too much heat.
1t does not grow we'll on wet and
low lands, but it succeeds perfectly on
mountains as we'll as on hills, and
even amidst rocks, provided there is
but little soil indeed, on places where
there seems to be scarcely anything
but stones.
What gives it still a greater value is
that where it grows best other annual
products are impracticable.
p. 13. The olive tree is capable Of
enhancing the value of soil naturally
poor to figure ranging from IL 900 tt
$4,000 francs per hectacre. (Equal
here to about $1,000 to $1,000 per acre.
p. AZ. In France the finest ant
most productive olive trees are to bt
found in the neighborhood of the city
of Grasse, and they are mostly always
planted on steep and rugged hills.
p. 1913. The olive tree grows to per
fection on dry lands, and in climates
where often not drop of rain falls fol
six and eight months.
Reynaud, p. "a. How much waste
land could be utilized in the cultiva-
tion of the olive tree, which is SO little
eXacting that it seems to be contented
with few baskets full of earth! In
fact, where is the tree that, like it,
would grow on arid, rocky spots, and
without water? And then, it requires
SO little care, such slight cultivation
so little fertilizing.
p. 81. The olive tree prefers hills
and elevated places, does not grow
well in valley lands, low and wet, OIL
where water stands. It's fruit CORES.
ponds to the soil where it is planted
in rich and moist land it gives heavy
and fatty oil |; in the warm and dry
soils the oil will be finer; in tile marly
and clayey soils it produces less.
p. 106. 1t can be easily understood
why it cannot be splanted in regular
lines on rocky situations, where one
utilizes even the interstices of rock,
and where there is hardly enough
earth to cover the roots.
Coutdnce, p. 147. The best soils,
where the fertility of cereals is SO
great, are not the proper ones for the
olive tree, not that it will not grow in
them, but because an exaggerated
ligneous development will take place
at the expense of the richness OF its
fruits. The quality of the oil will
likewise be affected. M. Cappy es-
tablishes on this point the difference
noticeable between the products OF
the olive trees of the fertile plains of
Calabria and those of the stony hills
of Lucca; between the products of the
plains of Salon, in France, and those
of the rocky hills of Marseilles and
Montpelier.
The olive is the only tree for the
arid, steep and rocky hills of the Med
iterranean shores. The ancients knew
this WELL Mangon insists on the ne
cessity of planting it on dry soil.
Lucilius Junior, Virgil, Columelle,
and many others make the same point.
P. 139. 1t will grow up in an alti-
tude of 1900, 1900, and even 2300 feet,
in some Instances.
Fablen speaks of the necessity of
temperate climates for the olive tree.
1t prefers the neighborhood of the sea,
and it is more fertile in proportion as
it approaches salt water, to enjoy the